


Lights, Camera...

by HerBreakingHeart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Arguing, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Heavy Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Internalized Homophobia, Korean Keith (Voltron), Love Bites, Love Confessions, Love/Hate, M/M, Post-Break Up, Sad Ending, deepest apologies, feel free to call me a monster in the comments, like probably the saddest thing I've ever written, this is really fucking sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 17:12:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16223612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerBreakingHeart/pseuds/HerBreakingHeart
Summary: "Klance is us." Leo said, surprised at his own gentle tone. Because itwas.The cast and crew of Voltron hadn't been expecting it for a second, hadn't been expectingLeo and Akira.Leo hadn't expected to fall in love while filming a tv show for kids set in space. The whole thing was fucking crazy.***AU where Voltron is a tv show and the actors of Keith and Lance have more chemistry than anyone planned for. Especially them.





	Lights, Camera...

Allura stepped forward, a concerned frown on her face, "You _must._ The Black Lion has chosen you."

Keith's scowl deepened, "I can't replace Shiro. You guys were right, I'm the loner." His dark eyes turned to the floor in despair, voice dropping to a tone of regret, "I'm not the leader Shiro thought I was."

Lance suddenly stepped forward, "Keith, no one can replace-"

_"Cut!"_

Leo stepped back immediately, pulled back into reality. He huffed, already knowing what the problem was, "What's up?" His co stars shuffled uncomfortably but he wouldn't look at any of them. Least of all _him._

"You need to be closer." The director, Lauren, pointed enthusiastically, "Much closer, so you're both in the frame and we can get a nice shot." Leo slowly counted to ten in his head. He would be calm and professional. He would get through this day. He _would._

"Ok." he shrugged, shaking off his irritability. "I'm good. Let's go." Leo cleared his throat for emphasis, not missing how Hanare shot him a look of exasperation and the way Petra rolled her eyes. Anna seemed sympathetic which only made him more annoyed. And… Akira.

He hadn't looked up from the floor once.

"Take 2. Action!"

Quick breath in and out. _It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing._ Leo became Lance. His life became a scene in a tv show. His feelings became words on a script. Nothing was real anymore.

Lance suddenly walked forward, standing in front of Keith. He opened his mouth to speak-

"Lance places his hand on Keith's shoulder." Lauren called out and Leo couldn't help whirling around to face her with a glare.

"Want me to make out with him too?" He snapped thoughtlessly and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Akira's pale face flush red. Anna tutted.

"Maybe we could shoot this scene another day?" She suggested, reaching up to touch her Altean makeup distractedly.

Hanare nodded, "Yeah, we could finish filming that stunt scene from earlier. Let loose some steam." No one missed his pointedly added comment.

Lauren shook her head, like the absolute imbecil she was, Leo thought angrily. "No, I'd like this scene done today if that's all right. It's an important character moment and everyone knows how much more of those I want for this season. Besides, certain, uh, _heightened emotions_ could create some great performances." Oh, that's what she wanted? His _heightened emotions_ would flatten that stupid bitch in her stupid chair for creating this stupid show that had ruined his whole life-

Leo bared his teeth in a smile and Hanare visibly shuddered. "She's right. We should get this beautiful moment in cinematic history finished."

Lauren narrowed her eyes but didn't rise to the bait, something that both relieved and disappointed Leo. "Take 3. Action!" _In and out, in and out. None of this is real, none of this is real._

His arms hung uselessly at his sides but Lance sighed. Reaching forward, he clasped his hand on Keith's shoulder and the other boy looked up, emitting a gasp of surprise. _Leo struggled to breathe normally when Akira was looking at him face to face, so close and so..._

Quick breath in and out. "Keith, no one can replace Shiro. But the Black Lion wouldn't choose anybody it didn't think was worthy of leading Voltron." _He'd forgotten how long Akira's lashes were this close, how you could just about make out the purple flecks in his eyes._ "I respect its choice. And you should too."

Keith watched him, face blank and unreadable. His gaze was fathomless and unforgiving. _Leo could've sighed in relief when he finally looked away._ The other boy turned away from him, effectively shrugging off his hand to gaze thoughtfully at the robotic lion. _Even in his current state, Leo could still marvel at how Akira could look at a green screen with so much damn meaning. He was currently in the progress of mastering that._ "But.. who's gonna fly Red?"

 _In and out. In and out._ And…

"And… scene!" Lauren called, letting out a sigh that was overly dramatic to even Leo's standards. "See, that wasn't so hard! Everyone did a good job!"

"Yeah, good job everyone." Leo parroted and quickly walked off set, determined to get away from everyone and everything. At least for another century or so. God, that had been a disaster. Who was he even kidding? The disgruntled actor swore under his breath as he headed over to his trailer, opening and closing the door with a slam. Christ, if he kept up like this, he'd be out of a job. And then… _he'd probably never see Akira again._

"Well, _fuck_ him." He whispered harshly to himself, "Walking around thinking he can just drop people like they're fucking nothing. God, he has no idea-" Leo started to pull off his armour, the clatter of it falling to the floor filling up his whole trailer, leaving him in just his grey undersuit. "-no _fucking_ idea what he's doing. Pathetic asshole." Even his own forced laugh caused a shiver to run down his spine. The actor's voice dropped to a pitiful whisper, "And who's hung up on said pathetic asshole?" A self-deprecating smile found its way to his lips.

And then someone started hammering on his trailer door. Leo's smile dropped, a familiar frown replacing it. Probably Anna come to comfort him, remind him that he was _such a lovely guy. Really, I do think you can find someone else easily. No one can resist a charmer, eh?_ And he'd reply with a wry grin, _well clearly someone can._ And she'd shake her head, _It's his loss._

The knocking was louder now, insistent and annoying as hell. "Anna, trust me, I'm fine! I need time for myself, ok?" It didn't stop and Leo huffed, walking over to the door before he could give it a second thought. Throwing it open, he repeated, "I'm fine, An-"

Akira stared back at him. Leo's mouth went dry and he swallowed, the sound painfully loud to his own ears. The other man's gaze dropped to his throat to follow the movement, the intensity in his eyes making Leo's tanned face pink. He felt the tips of his ears as if they were on fire. And then their little staring match ended as Akira suddenly placed a firm hand on Leo's chest, pushing him back into the trailer and walking in. Leo's dumbfounded mind was going a million miles an hour, flashing back to memories of him and Akira hooking up in this exact space, of a time when his presence seemed to bring the other man joy other than shame.

His touch burned through the undershirt but was gone within moments as Akira turned to shut the door behind him. They stood in silence. Leo hated how loud his breathing was.

His shock began to thaw and he accused indignantly, "What are you-"

"What was _that?"_ Akira snapped out of nowhere, his fiery dark eyes piercing through Leo's. The absolute _rage_ in his voice was enough to chill Leo to the bone. He didn't know what he'd been expecting. Akira hadn't spoken to him in _weeks._

He swallowed. _Again_. "Look, I don't know what you think you're-"

"Give it a rest, Leo." He sneered, "We're not acting anymore. So can you be real for me for just a second?"

Leo broke their shared gaze to glare stubbornly at the wall behind him. Akira was nothing more than an unfocused blur, but he could make out the basic shape of him. Even his stupid mullet which frankly annoyed the fuck out of Leo because of how well he actually managed to pull it off. When he wasn't filming Voltron, Akira liked to cut it or keep it up in a ponytail. He tried not to think of what it had been like seeing a ponytailed Akira for the first time; they'd all gone to the gym together in the summer to train and long story short, Leo basically became his costar's bitch. _"Knew you had some fire." Akira had grinned as Leo backed him into his trailer's kitchen, yanking on his ponytail to expose his neck. "Ugh, fuck, Leandro, you're so hot-"_

And…. time to stop walking down memory lane and concentrate on the present. Where Akira hated him and wasn't about to let Leo fuck him against his kitchen floor anytime soon. He cleared his throat, "How real do you want me to be?"

Something shone in Akira's galaxy eyes, something that was different from the rage. Leo's own eyes flicked down to where the other man was furiously wringing his hands, the action vigorous and harsh. "You're getting worse everyday. I mean it, Leo, everyone's noticing. It can't keep happening."

"Oh, deepest apologies, Aki." Akira flinched, actually _flinched,_ at the nickname - as if any reminder of how familiar they'd once been was too painful to bear. "Wouldn't want to let my _heightened emotions_ get in the way of _work."_

_This is work, ok? This is our way of making a living because guess what, Leo? We're not actually paladins in space where anything is possible. We live in the real fucking world and we- I can't afford to make any mistakes. I can't, Leo, don't you get it?_

When the only thing Akira did to that was to pale, Leo persisted, spurred on by his own anger. Anger and despair at their situation and his apparent selfishness at simply wanting to be in love and _enjoy_ being in love. "Do you remember season 1, Aki? Where we met and it was _fun,_ reading scripts together and kind of high on life because it was our big break? We got to know each other, and, god, I really liked you. And I know you liked me too. Everyone knows the "bonding moment" was all us because who the fuck are we kidding?"

"Klance." Akira suddenly hissed, saying the word as if it were the cause of cancer.

"Klance is us." Leo said, surprised at his own gentle tone. Because it _was._ The cast and crew of Voltron hadn't been expecting it for a second, hadn't been expecting _Leo and Akira._ Leo hadn't expected to fall in love while filming a tv show for kids set in space. The whole thing was fucking crazy.

And yet it didn't stop it from being true. Didn't stop the inevitable hook ups in trailers; late night talks about family and ambitions while scripts were left abandoned on the floor; hickeys on Akira's neck hidden by his mullet; bite marks scattered across Leo's inner thighs. It didn't stop the way Leo had whispered _I love you_ against Akira's smouldering kiss on the day they got renewed for season 3 and decided to celebrate in his trailer.

And the way the other man's breath had hitched and he'd pulled away sharply. _I'm sorry, I can't._

"I came here to tell you something." Akira suddenly said and Leo bit his lip, fear setting into his bones at the other's tone. Soft yet broken, the way he'd sounded when rejecting Leo. _What more could he do to him?_

He cleared his throat, folding his arms, and hoped he looked as careless as he wanted to. "Okay?"

For the first time since he'd entered Leo's trailer, Akira dropped his gaze. His mullet fell to cover those penetrating eyes, "I'm… I'm leaving for season 4. I'll have one episode and then that's it. I'm gone."

Leo felt like the whole world had fallen out beneath him. Akira still wouldn't look at him. "... I don't understand."

"Joaquin and Lauren have it sorted out. Keith will go off and join the Blade, mentions of offscreen missions, that kind of thing. I'll be able to record my scenes separately without the rest of you if they need extra material."

Leo turned away. He _had_ to, otherwise he'd fall to pieces. Raking a hand through his hair, he managed to quietly say, "So they decided this? To write you off?"

Silence; the kind where you could probably hear a heart break.

"Aki?"

"I had a good offer." was the frustratingly emotionless reponse. "Another show, live-action. Everyone reckons it'll be the next big thing."

A tear slowly slid down Leo's face. He didn't move to wipe it. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." _Fuck you._

"Be honest with me. Did I play a part in you making this decision?"

God, the wait was agonising, hearing Akira's shallow breaths and praying desperately for… what? Proof that Leo still mattered, even if it meant that the love of his life didn't want to be around him anymore?

A deep breath, "Yes."

"You don't have to do this." They could both hear the tears in his voice now. "Please, you don't-"

"I can't afford not to, Leo. You of all people know that." Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder, the touch so unexpected that Leo jumped at the contact. "I'm not like you. I can't…" the hand tightened its grip, "I can't be brave."

"We could do it together." He implored desperately, "I can help you. We can help each other. _Together."_

"Leo, no-"

"I can't believe it." Leo laughed harshly and the hand slipped off his shoulder. "You'll give up on everything, on me, on _us,_ because you don't want everything else to change. The industry _is_ fucked up, Aki, but we can't play pretend forever. You can't pretend you're not gay forever."

"Fuck you, Leandro." Leo turned and the passionate actors faced each other. He wasn't prepared for the tears streaming down Akira's face. "Your family is wonderful and will accept you with open arms. Mine will cast me out and spit on my damn memory because I will be _that_ much of a shame. And the industry? It's hard enough to get an acting job when you're Asian and add that abomination on top? I won't be worth shit. A decent fuck isn't worth that."

_"Stop pretending that's all we were. Stop **fucking** pretending!"_

"Bye, Leo." He spat and without another word, opened the trailer door and stormed out. The lonely actor remained frozen until it slammed shut before sinking to the floor. _I'm not like you. I can't be brave._

He cried out Akira's name until it became meaningless and fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna add another bit where there's a few months time jump and Leo sees Akira in a news article which shows him in a "relationship" with a female costar of his new show (obviously a PR stunt). But even I know when enough is enough :)))))))))) 
> 
> Thoughts? x


End file.
